Biogen has completely discontinued work on adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies, setting off a staff reshuffle within the unit.
All told, around 20 employees were affected by this restructuring effort, a spokesperson told Endpoints News, which broke the news on Sept. 25. “A majority” of these, however, were “reassigned to other roles within Biogen,” the spokesperson added. It is unclear how many were left without jobs.
At the end of 2024, Biogen had more than 7,600 employees worldwide, though the company in January let go of an undisclosed number of research staff in an effort to “reinvigorate” its drug discovery efforts, a spokesperson said at the time.
“We are taking a disciplined approach to capital allocation,” Jane Grogan, head of research at Biogen, said, according to a Sept. 26 report from Fierce Biotech, adding that moving forward, the company will focus its resources into “pioneer modalities” and therapies that are most likely to deliver “better outcomes for patients.”
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Ladenburg, Germany–based Heidelberg Pharma is laying off 75% of its staff after the company failed to meet the conditions for a royalty payment. Without the $70 million that royalty would have netted, Heidelberg is downsizing to extend its runway and focus its pipeline.
The company has 122 employees, according to a May press release, so up to 92 employees will be affected. Heidelberg did not specify what conditions it missed, but in a financing agreement with HealthCare Royalty, Royalty would pay $70 million upon FDA approval of TLX250-CDx, Heidelberg’s radiolabeled version of the antibody girentuximab for clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
The layoffs are expected to push Heidelberg’s runway into mid-2026. Going forward, the company is using its remaining cash reserves to advance the development of HDP-101, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) currently in a Phase I/IIa trial for multiple myeloma.
New Jersey’s Rising Pharmaceuticals is shutting down two facilities in Decatur, Illinois, according to reporting from local news outlet WAND News on Sept. 16. In connection with the closures, around 95 employees were informed they were being laid off, according to WAND. However, a WARN posting on Sept. 15 puts the total number of affected employees at 86.
The headcount reduction will begin on Nov. 15, according to the WARN notice.
Rising Pharma arrived at Decatur in July 2023, when it bought the two facilities from Akorn Pharmaceuticals, which had declared bankruptcy in February of that year, according to reporting from WAND at the time.
According to its website, Rising Pharma is focused on prescription generic drugs, with more than 250 products in its catalog.
Rome’s 14-person team is getting even smaller as the biotech is forced to assess its strategic options to stay afloat amid “challenging market conditions,” a company spokesperson told Fierce Biotech.
“Rome’s leadership and our board of directors are actively exploring strategic options to enable the continued advancement of our novel science and programs, all of which aim to address significant unmet patient needs,” the spokesperson said. The biotech has yet to specify how many people will be laid off, only revealing that the workforce reduction will be effective at the end of this quarter.
Alongside the cost-cutting efforts, Rome will also give up its physical office and switch to completely virtual operations, according to the spokesperson.
Launched in 2020 with $50 million in series A funds, Rome entered the industry with a mission to mine the “uncharted territory” of the genome for novel therapies for cancer, immune-mediated diseases and infectious diseases, according to a press announcement at the time. Three years later, the biotech’s series B brought in more than $70 million with the support of many high-profile backers, including Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb.
As part of cost-cutting measures to support its lead program, Seres Therapeutics is laying off about 25% of its workforce, which includes people let go effective in August, the company announced today. The Cambridge, Massachusetts–based biotech had 103 employees as of Dec. 31, according to its annual report, meaning the workforce reduction could affect around 26 staffers. Seres expects the cuts will help extend its cash runway into the second quarter of 2026.
The biotech also noted in the announcement that it has received additional “constructive feedback” from the FDA that will help finalize the Phase II study protocol for lead program SER-155. The investigational live biotherapeutic is intended to prevent bacterial bloodstream infections and other pathogen-associated negative clinical outcomes in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants.
Seres is looking to secure capital and other resources to support advancement of the Phase II study as well as further development of additional live biotherapeutic candidates, according to the announcement. The company hopes to have interim clinical results within 12 months of study initiation.
After letting go of its Pfizer-partnered vepdegestrant, Arvinas is enacting a “cost optimization” program that will include a workforce reduction of 15%.
The Connecticut company had 430 full-time employees at the end of 2024. In May, the biotech let go of 131 people, leaving fewer than 300 staff. This latest round of layoffs could affect around 45 people, focusing on departments involved with the commercialization of vepdegestrant, according to its Sept. 18 announcement.
Arvinas and Pfizer jointly agreed to transfer commercialization rights of vepdegestrant to a third-party company. The FDA accepted the drug application last month with a target action date of June 5, 2026.
Bristol Myers Squibb is letting go of 282 employees in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with effective dates in December 2025 and February and March of 2026, according to a WARN notice.
In 2025, BMS had already disclosed layoffs affecting 290 employees in February, 516 in May and 68 in July, all part of an aggressive cost-cutting campaign. The company initially aimed to save $1.5 billion through 2025 but raised its goal by $2 billion in February 2025, expecting to reach this by 2027.
Novo Nordisk will let go of 263 employees at its U.S. headquarters in Plainsboro, New Jersey, effective Dec. 31, according to a WARN notice.
Last week, the company revealed it is downsizing its global headcount by 9,000 people, or 11% of its workforce, aiming to generate $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026. The layoffs will mainly affect staff in Denmark. Over the past five years, Novo’s workforce has surged 81% alongside its revenue growth.
Arsenal Biosciences is downsizing by 50% as it pushes its investigational cell therapies into the clinic, leaving 127 employees.
The restructuring aims to extend its cash runway and support advancement of clinical programs, including lead CAR T therapy AB-2100 for renal cell carcinoma. Arsenal raised $325 million in its Series C round in September 2024, backed by ARCH Venture Partners, NVIDIA’s NVenture and Bristol Myers Squibb. The layoffs will not affect the BMS partnership.
X4 Pharmaceuticals is enacting another “strategic restructuring” initiative, laying off about 50% of its workforce to align resources with its long-term strategy.
The company had 143 employees at the end of 2024 but was left with around 100 after a February 2025 layoff. This round is expected to affect 50 employees. The restructuring will cost $3.3 million in severance and related expenses, with annualized savings of $13 million. Several executives, including the COO, CCO, CLO and CMO, have also departed.
X4 received FDA approval in April 2024 for Xolremdi, its oral drug for WHIM syndrome, which generated $2.6 million in revenue last year.
Innate Pharma is laying off 30% of its workforce to prioritize three pipeline assets with the highest potential for patient and shareholder value.
CEO Jonathan Dickinson cited a “challenging funding environment” as the driver of the initiative. As of June 30, 2025, Innate had €70.4 million ($83.4 million) in cash and equivalents, expected to last through Q3 2026. With 181 employees at the end of 2024, about 54 staff will be affected, with layoffs to be completed in the first half of 2026.
Merck will terminate research and discovery efforts in the U.K., a move that includes pulling out of the Francis Crick Institute and the London BioScience Innovation Center, leaving 125 employees jobless. The pharma giant is also scrapping a roughly $1.3 billion construction project that was expected to open 120 roles for researchers and technicians.
In a statement to Endpoints News and Fierce Biotech, a company spokesperson said the moves reflect “the challenges of the U.K. not making meaningful progress towards addressing the lack of investment in the life science industry.” Successive U.K. governments, the spokesperson continued, have also demonstrated an “overall undervaluation of innovative medicines and vaccines.”
Novo Nordisk is cutting some 9,000 staff across its global operations, including around 5,000 in Denmark, in a bid to generate around $1.25 billion in annualized savings through 2026.
The layoffs, which amount to an 11% headcount reduction, will begin “immediately.” Novo expects to incur 9 billion Danish Kroner ($1.41 billion) in one-off costs, which will reflect in third-quarter 2025 results, according to the pharma’s Sept. 10 news release.
In a note to investors, BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote, “With shares down ~37% YTD . . . a significant shift was the only option. From underinvestment in manufacturing, over promising on clinical data (CagriSema), being slow-to-act in launching [direct-to-consumer], and a tepid initial response to compounders—Novo did not seem to get it right.”
As Lundbeck enacts a major business overhaul across its European and international operations, more than 600 employees of the Danish company will be left without jobs. Lundbeck has around 5,700 employees total worldwide, meaning that the restructuring could represent a more than 10% reduction in headcount.
In a Sept. 9 news release, the company announced it would pull out of 27 markets and switch to what it called a “partnership model” in these areas. It will farm out its commercial assets in these markets to three regional partners.
Lundbeck has 602 employees across these 27 territories. The pharma expects that “the majority” of these affected staff could “get a new job with the local partners,” according to its announcement.
AC Immune is letting go of 30% of its workforce to help extend its cash runway to the end of Q3 2027, the Swiss biotech announced Sept. 4. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the company had 172 employees, all based in Switzerland, meaning that about 52 people could be affected by the headcount reduction. AC Immune expects to complete the cuts by the end of this year.
Alongside the layoffs, the biotech will sharpen its pipeline focus and concentrate its investments into its “most important assets.” These include three clinical-stage programs, two of which are in collaboration with Big Pharma partners. AC Immune will also move ahead with its “most promising” small-molecule assets targeting tau proteins and the NLRP3 inflammasome.
In a prepared statement Sept. 4, CEO Andrea Pfeifer highlighted that the company is “approaching multiple potentially transformational milestones over the next two years” but did not specify what those milestones are.
Novartis is parting ways with 58 employees from its U.S. headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification posting. The layoffs will take place from Nov. 26 this year through June 26 next year.
A spokesperson for the pharma confirmed the news to Fierce Pharma on Tuesday, noting that the terminations will affect staff at Novartis’ medical affairs organization. The headcount reduction comes as the company is “evaluating opportunities to enhance processes, increase efficiencies, and ensure we are investing our time and resources into the areas where we can have the greatest impact,” the spokesperson added.
Novartis has implemented a couple of streamlining efforts this year, including letting go of 34 employees from its production plant in San Diego, California, effective this June. In March, the pharma likewise announced that it would axe 427 roles from its East Hanover location, layoffs that are scheduled to continue through Oct. 24. In December 2024, Novartis also laid off 330 employees after shutting down facilities in Munich and Boston.
